Blayney Shire | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Council Chambers,Blayney | |||||||||||||
 | |||||||||||||
 Location inNew South Wales | |||||||||||||
| Coordinates:33°32′S149°15′E / 33.533°S 149.250°E /-33.533; 149.250 | |||||||||||||
| Country | Australia | ||||||||||||
| State | New South Wales | ||||||||||||
| Region | Central West | ||||||||||||
| Council seat | Blayney[4] | ||||||||||||
| Government | |||||||||||||
| • Mayor | Bruce Reynolds(Independent | ||||||||||||
| • State electorate | |||||||||||||
| • Federal division | |||||||||||||
| Area | |||||||||||||
• Total | 1,525 km2 (589 sq mi) | ||||||||||||
| Population | |||||||||||||
| • Totals | 7,257 (2016 census)[2] 7,342 (2018 est.)[3] | ||||||||||||
| • Density | 4.7587/km2 (12.325/sq mi) | ||||||||||||
| Website | Blayney Shire | ||||||||||||
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Blayney Shire is alocal government area in theCentral West region ofNew South Wales,Australia. The Shire is located adjacent to theMid-Western Highway and theMain Western railway line, and is centred on the town ofBlayney.
Blayney Shire consists ofapproximately 1,600 square kilometres (620 sq mi) of well watered, gently undulating to hilly country and the climate is partially suitable for cool climate crops and trees. There is also significant mining industry in the shire.
Towns and localities within the Blayney Shire are:
![[icon]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aWiki_letter_w_cropped.svg) | This sectionneeds expansion with: the2011 census and the2016 census data. You can help byadding missing information.(July 2017) |
| Selected historical census data for Blayney Shire local government area | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Census year | 2011[5] | 2016[2] | ||||
| Population | Estimated residents oncensus night | 6,985 |  7,257 | |||
| LGA rank in terms of size within New South Wales | 100th | |||||
| % of New South Wales population | ||||||
| % of Australian population | ||||||
| Cultural and language diversity | ||||||
| Ancestry, top responses | Australian | 35.0% | 35.4% | |||
| English | 32.0% | 31.1% | ||||
| Irish | 11.1% | 10.9% | ||||
| Chinese | 7.4% | 7.4% | ||||
| German | 2.3% | 2.4% | ||||
| Language, top responses (other than English) | German | n/a | 0.2% | |||
| Arabic | 0.2% | 0.2% | ||||
| Cantonese | n/a | 0.2% | ||||
| Tamil | n/a | 0.1% | ||||
| French | n/a | 0.1% | ||||
| Religious affiliation | ||||||
| Religious affiliation, top responses | Catholic | 31.0% | 28.6% | |||
| Anglican | 27.9% | 24.2% | ||||
| No religion | 14.4% | 20.8% | ||||
| Not stated | not reported | 8.5% | ||||
| Uniting Church | 7.6% | 6.8% | ||||
| Median weekly incomes | ||||||
| Personal income | Median weekly personal income | A$553 | A$620 | |||
| % of Australian median income | % | % | ||||
| Family income | Median weekly family income | A$1376 | A$1581 | |||
| % of Australian median income | % | % | ||||
| Household income | Median weekly household income | A$1092 | A$1227 | |||
| % of Australian median income | % | % | ||||
Blayney Shire Council is composed of sevencouncillors electedproportionally as a singleward. All councillors are elected for a fixed four-year term of office. Themayor is elected by the councillors at the first meeting of the council. The most recent election was held on 14 September 2024, and the makeup of the council is as follows:[6]
| Party | Councillors | |
|---|---|---|
| Independent | 6 | |
| Independent National | 1 | |
| Total | 7 | |
The current Council, elected in 2024, is:[6]
| Councillor | Party | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bruce Reynolds | Independent National | Mayor[6] | |
| Stephen Johnston | Independent | Elected February 2025 on a countback following the resignation of Michelle Pryse Jones | |
| Karl Hutchings | Independent | ||
| John Newstead | Independent | ||
| Craig Gosewisch | Independent | ||
| Rebecca Scott | Independent | Deputy Mayor[6] | |
| Iris Dorsett | Independent | ||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Independent National | Bruce Reynolds (elected) | 1,074 | 23.6 | +9.7 | |
| Independent | Michelle Pryse Jones (elected) | 629 | 13.8 | +0.6 | |
| Independent | Karl Hutchings (elected) | 622 | 13.7 | ||
| Independent | John Newstead (elected) | 556 | 12.2 | +3.1 | |
| Independent | Craig Gosewisch (elected) | 485 | 10.7 | −1.6 | |
| Independent | Rebecca Scott (elected) | 450 | 9.9 | ||
| Independent | Iris Dorsett (elected) | 394 | 8.7 | +1.2 | |
| Independent | Stephen Johnston | 264 | 5.8 | ||
| Independent | Angus Norton | 73 | 1.6 | ||
| Total formal votes | 4,547 | 94.1 | |||
| Informal votes | 284 | 5.9 | |||
| Turnout | 4,831 | 86.8 | |||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Independent | Scott Ferguson (elected) | 1,036 | 22.7 | ||
| Independent | Bruce Reynolds (elected) | 635 | 13.9 | ||
| Independent | Michelle Pryse Jones (elected) | 605 | 13.3 | ||
| Independent | Craig Gosewisch (elected) | 559 | 12.3 | ||
| Independent | Allan Ewin (elected) | 526 | 11.5 | ||
| Independent | David Somervaille (elected) | 443 | 9.7 | ||
| Independent | John Newstead (elected) | 416 | 9.1 | ||
| Independent | Iris Dorsett | 340 | 7.5 | ||
| Total formal votes | 4,560 | 95.3 | |||
| Informal votes | 224 | 4.7 | |||
| Turnout | 4,784 | 87.7 | |||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Independent | Scott Ferguson (elected) | 1,329 | 30.9 | +19.4 | |
| Independent | Allan Ewin (elected) | 605 | 14.1 | −3.9 | |
| Independent | David Kingham (elected) | 447 | 10.4 | −0.1 | |
| Country Labor | Scott Denton (elected) | 418 | 9.7 | +9.7 | |
| Independent | John Newstead (elected) | 416 | 9.1 | ||
| Independent | Bruce Reynolds (elected) | 393 | 9.1 | +9.1 | |
| Independent | David Somervaille (elected) | 311 | 7.2 | −0.1 | |
| Greens | 272 | 6.3 | +6.3 | ||
| Independent | Nyree Reynolds | 139 | 3.2 | +3.2 | |
| Total formal votes | 4,299 | 94.82 | |||
| Informal votes | 235 | 5.18 | |||
| Turnout | 4,784 | 85.73 | |||
A2015 review of local government boundaries recommended that the Blayney Shire merge with theCabonne Shire and theCity of Orange to form a new council with an area of 7,833 square kilometres (3,024 sq mi) and support a population of approximately 63,000.[10] Despite originally planning for the amalgamation to go ahead, the merger scheduled for May 2016 was delayed due to legal action, and in February 2017 the NSW Government decided not to proceed with the amalgamation.[11][12][13]
Media related toBlayney Shire at Wikimedia Commons
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